News and Information from Bond Buyer

San Bernardino has chosen a new finance director after more than a year of vacancy in the position.

Michigan lawmakers return to work this week facing a new wrinkle in the proposed restructuring of the fiscally distressed Detroit Public Schools that stands to shape governance issues.

The Conroe Industrial Development Corporation in Texas has paid a penalty and agreed to redeem bonds under the Internal Revenue Service’s voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP) to settle a tax violation relating to bonds it issued in 2008 and refunded in 2012.

Top quality municipal bonds finished weaker on Monday in secondary activity, traders said, with yields on most maturities strengthening by one basis point.

UMB Bank N.A., the bond trustee for Texas Pellets, accelerated the outstanding debt on $186.5 million of bonds due to a default at the company owned by German Pellets, which filed for insolvency in February.

As Oklahoma lawmakers sought additional funds to close a $1.3 billion budget gap, Treasurer Ken Miller gave them the bad news that state tax receipts in March were the lowest in four years.

The Associated Press and Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers, announced Monday that it has created a new muni bond index.

Bond Dealers of America is urging the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to leave unchanged some rules that relate to the municipal securities market’s move to a two- instead of three-day settlement cycle.

Market participants increasingly see monetary policy as being data dependent, according to an Economic Letter released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Puerto Rico offered a revised restructuring proposal to bondholders that includes paying more annually and extending the maximum maturity of debt by 18 years.

With its credit on the mend, Buffalo, N.Y., is prepping a $52.7 million negotiated bond sale Wednesday to address capital projects and refinance old debt.

Top quality municipal bonds were slightly weaker at mid-session, traders said, with yields on some maturities strengthening by one basis point.

Bond trustees are proving to have less power than some investors expect as debt distress has become a more persistent concern for municipal bond investors.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were lower, as the three-months incurred a 0.230% high rate, down from 0.235% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.350% high rate, down from 0.385% the week before.

The Treasury Department said Monday it will sell $35 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday.

As it delivers growing numbers of commuters through Houston’s congested car culture, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County will make a side trip to the municipal market with $136 million of refunding bonds.

Consumers decreased their expectations for inflation, according to the March Survey of Consumer Expectations, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

In the latest installment of Muni Minute – The Bond Buyer's 60-second video series that examines a top municipal market story that will impact the coming week – we take a look at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board which is meeting later this week to consider several regulatory proposals, including a very contentious one.

Municipal bond traders are looking ahead to a rather eventful week in the primary, with a tad over $6 billion of new supply scheduled to come to market. Total volume for the week is estimated by Ipreo at about $6.13 billion.

Apr. 11, 2016 Northeast: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Connecticut Aa3/AA/AA 0.73 1.35 2.13 3.05 Delaware Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.56 0.95 1.57 2.52 Maine Aa2/AA/AA 0.58 1.02 1.69 2.66 Maryland Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.56 0.97 1.62 2.54 Massachusetts Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.58 1.04 1.73 2.7 New Hampshire Aa1/AA/AA+ 0.58 1.01 1.63 2.63 New Jersey A2/A/A 0.91 1.82 2.53 3.44 New York Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.56 0.97 1.65 2.7 Pennsylvania Aa3/AA+/AA+ 0.76 1.57 2.22 3.14 Rhode Island Aa2/AA/AA 0.66 1.2 1.94 2.89 Vermont Aaa/AA+/AAA 0.56 0.98 1.61 2.55 Dist. of Columbia Aa1/AA/AA 0.59 1.08 1.77 2.74 Puerto Rico Caa3/CC/CC 26.56 16.37 12.14 9.29